Day One...

I admit it.  I cheated.  When I decided to do this experiment, I had Jana run out and get some milk and bread.  I had just taken the last gallon out of the freezer, so I knew I would need milk.  And I also knew that I didn't have time to make bread (finals week this next week), so...  But, from here on out, it is what it is.  This could be interesting.

Actually, it's already been interesting.  Last night for dinner I made taco soup.  I decided to "morph" that for tonight's dinner into tamale pie.  I drained off the liquid, and then went to the cupboard to get the cornmeal to make the crust part of the pie.  Apparently some weevils or other sort of small buggie thingie thought the cornmeal was delicious.  I'm glad they liked it.  I threw it out to the garbage so that they could enjoy it to their heart's content.  Note to self: keep cornmeal and other grains, etc. in a plastic storage container.  Duh.

Now what?  I decided to grind up the corn chips from last night's dinner in the blender.  That gave me about 1/2 c. of powdery stuff, but I needed 1 c.  So I threw in the last of some Sun Chips.  Okay, 1 c., we're good to go.  I followed the recipe directions (shock!) and added my 1 c. of mixed powdery stuff into 4 c. of boiling water and stirred for 5 minutes.  At the end of the 5 minutes, it was still VERY runny.  Not good.  So I thought, "Hmmm, I've got corn tortillas.  I'll blenderize those as well."  More powdery stuff added to the goopy stuff.  Five more minutes.  Goopy stuff is now pretty thick.  Okay, this might work.  I put it into a deep-dish ceramic pie dish and layered the de-juiced taco soup (beans, ground beef, corn, onions, green chiles, etc.) on top.  I cooked it according to the directions (I'm on a roll!) at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Thirty minutes later, goopy stuff is still goopy.  Not good.  Twenty more minutes, goopy stuff is finally semi-solid on the sides, still very goopy on the bottom.  Oh well, family is hungry, time to cut my losses and call it good.  To serve it, I scooped off from the the top and sides.  As I said to my family, "You win some and you lose some!"  Believe it or not, it tasted pretty darn good.  It would not win any prizes for looks, though.

From the pantry:
Red kidney beans
Corn salsa (Trader Joe's)
Organic cut tomatoes
Chile powder, cumin, salt, pepper
Trader Joe's Corn chips (like Fritos)

From the freezer:
1 # ground beef

From the fridge:
Sour cream
Lite Mexican cheese (shredded)

Wish I had:
Sliced olives

I'm going to keep a running list of what I used and what I wish I had so that I can learn from the experience.  If you're up to doing the challenge and blogging about it, let me know and I'll post a link to your blog here!